Prompt Cast
The Rise of Evangelicalism in US Politics
TLDR The rise of evangelicalism in US politics can be traced back to John Nelson Darby's new interpretation of the Bible, which gained popularity after the Civil War. The issue of abortion in 1978 mobilized evangelicals into a voting bloc for the Republican Party, leading to the formation of the Moral Majority and the overwhelming support of conservative political causes and Republican candidates by white evangelicals.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The evangelical vote is a powerful force in US politics, with white evangelicals being particularly linked to conservative political issues.
06:07
John Nelson Darby's new interpretation of the Bible rejected denominations, formal ministers, and the idea of a thousand years of peace before Jesus' return, instead predicting a world that would continue to get worse until the apocalypse, leading to the rise of evangelical Zionism and the belief in the rapture.
11:20
John Nelson Darby's fatalistic and pessimistic view of the world gained steam in the US after the Civil War, as the country faced challenging problems and evangelicals felt chastened by the war, leading to the rise of his pre-millennialist theology.
16:42
The racial divide among white and black evangelicals in the post-war era led to the creation of separate denominations, with the southern evangelical church becoming the heartbeat of the segregationist movement in the Jim Crow era.
22:38
World War I reinforced the apocalyptic vision of radical evangelicals, leading to the emergence of the fundamentalist movement and the organization of the World's Christian Fundamentals Association by William B. Riley.
27:45
Aimee Semple McPherson, a prominent evangelist in the 1920s, used dramatic sermons and unconventional methods to gain wider acceptance in American society and challenge the liberal evangelical wing of the movement.
32:57
The Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925 marked a turning point in the relationship between evangelicals and politics, as it led to a decline in evangelical political engagement and the rise of a closed subculture, but it wasn't until the 1970s that evangelicals became actively involved in politics again, with abortion becoming a defining issue for white evangelicals.
38:56
The myth that the religious right began as a political movement in response to the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion is debunked, as evangelicals were more or less indifferent to abortion before that and even issued statements leaving open the possibility of abortion and supporting its availability to women, with the southern baptist convention even passing a resolution calling for the legalization of abortion.
44:47
The issue that would mobilize evangelicals into a voting bloc for the Republican Party was found in 1978, five years after Roe v. Wade.
50:20
The issue of abortion mobilized evangelicals into a voting bloc for the Republican Party, leading to the formation of the Moral Majority in 1979 and the overwhelming support of conservative political causes and Republican candidates by white evangelicals.
55:59
The podcast episode ends with a preview of a new limited run podcast called "No Compromise" that tells the story of a family of gun activists seeking to change American gun culture.
Categories:
History
Society & Culture
